Compare the2025 Hyundai Santa FeVS 2025 Buick Enclave

Both the Santa Fe and Enclave have child safety locks to prevent children from opening the rear doors. The Santa Fe has power child safety locks, allowing the driver to activate and deactivate them from the driver's seat and to know when they're engaged. The Enclave’s child locks have to be individually engaged at each rear door with a manual switch. The driver can’t know the status of the locks without opening the doors and checking them.

The Hyundai Santa Fe has a standard driver’s side knee airbag mounted low on the dashboard. The knee airbag helps prevent the driver from sliding under the seatbelts or the main frontal airbag; this keeps the driver better positioned during a collision for maximum protection. A knee airbag also helps keep the legs from striking the dashboard, preventing knee and leg injuries in the case of a serious frontal collision. The Enclave doesn’t offer knee airbags.

When descending a steep, off-road slope, the Santa Fe’s standard Downhill Brake Control allow you to creep down safely. The Enclave doesn’t offer Downhill Brake Control.

Both the Santa Fe and the Enclave have standard driver and passenger frontal airbags, front and rear side-impact airbags, side-impact head airbags, front and rear seatbelt pretensioners, front wheel drive, height adjustable front shoulder belts, four-wheel antilock brakes, traction control, electronic stability systems to prevent skidding, crash mitigating brakes, daytime running lights, lane departure warning systems, blind spot warning systems, rearview cameras, rear cross-path warning, available all wheel drive and around view monitors.

The Hyundai Santa Fe achieved a “Top Safety Pick” rating from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) for the 2024 model year. This recognition was based on its impressive performance in the small overlap frontal crash test, updated side impact crash test, headlight evaluations, and pedestrian crash prevention testing. The Enclave has not yet been evaluated by the IIHS for 2024.

The Santa Fe comes with a full 5-year/60,000-mile basic warranty, which covers the entire truck and includes 24-hour roadside assistance. The Enclave’s 3-year/36,000-mile basic warranty expires 2 years or 24,000 miles sooner.

Hyundai’s powertrain warranty covers the Santa Fe 5 years and 40,000 miles longer than Buick covers the Enclave. Any repair needed on the engine, transmission, axles, joints or driveshafts is fully covered for 10 years or 100,000 miles. Coverage on the Enclave ends after only 5 years or 60,000 miles.

The Santa Fe’s corrosion warranty is 1 year and unlimited miles longer than the Enclave’s (7/unlimited vs. 6/100,000).

Hyundai pays for scheduled maintenance on the Santa Fe for 3 years and 36,000 miles. Hyundai will pay for oil changes, tire rotations, air filter replacements, cabin filter replacement, brake fluid replacement, inspections, and any other required maintenance. Buick doesn’t pay scheduled maintenance for the Enclave.

J.D. Power and Associates’ 2024 Initial Quality Study of new car owners surveyed provide the statistics that show that Hyundai vehicles are better in initial quality than Buick vehicles. J.D. Power ranks Hyundai third in initial quality, above the industry average. With 2 more problems per 100 vehicles, Buick is ranked fifth.

From surveys of all its subscribers, Consumer Reports’ January 2024 Auto Issue reports that Hyundai vehicles are more reliable than Buick vehicles. Consumer Reports ranks Hyundai 1 place higher in reliability than Buick.

As tested in Car and Driver the Hyundai Santa Fe is faster than the Buick Enclave:

On the EPA test cycle the Santa Fe gets better mileage than the Enclave:

In its Green Vehicle Guide, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rates the Hyundai Santa Fe higher (6 out of 10) than the Buick Enclave (5). This means the Santa Fe produces up to 6.9 pounds less smog-producing pollutants than the Enclave every 15,000 miles.

The Santa Fe offers a standard sequential manual gearbox (SMG). With no clutch pedal to worry about and a fully automatic mode, an SMG is much more efficient than a conventional automatic but just as easy to drive. The Enclave doesn’t offer an SMG or a conventional manual transmission.

For better stopping power the Santa Fe’s front brake rotors are larger than those on the Enclave:

The Santa Fe’s drift compensation steering can automatically compensate for road conditions which would cause the vehicle to drift from side to side, helping the driver to keep the vehicle straight more easily. The Enclave doesn’t offer drift compensation steering.

The Santa Fe Calligraphy AWD handles at .84 G’s, while the Enclave Avenir pulls only .83 G’s of cornering force in a Car and Driver skidpad test.

For better maneuverability, the Santa Fe’s turning circle is 1.1 feet tighter than the Enclave’s (37.9 feet vs. 39 feet). The Santa Fe’s turning circle is 2.8 feet tighter than the Enclave w/22” wheels’ (37.9 feet vs. 40.7 feet).

For greater off-road capability the Santa Fe has a greater minimum ground clearance than the Enclave (7 vs. 6.8 inches), allowing the Santa Fe to travel over rougher terrain without being stopped or damaged. The Santa Fe XRT’s minimum ground clearance is 1.5 inches higher than on the Enclave (8.3 vs. 6.8 inches).

The Santa Fe is 1 foot, 5.4 inches shorter than the Enclave, making the Santa Fe easier to handle, maneuver and park in tight spaces.

The Santa Fe has .1 inches more front legroom, .6 inches more rear headroom and .8 inches more rear legroom than the Enclave.

For enhanced passenger comfort on long trips the Santa Fe’s middle and third row seats recline. The Enclave’s third row seats don’t recline.

The Santa Fe’s standard towing capacity is much higher than the Enclave’s (3500 vs. 1500 pounds).

The Santa Fe Calligraphy’s front and rear power windows all open or close with one touch of the switches. The Enclave’s rear power window switches have to be held the entire time to close them fully.

Manual rear side window sunshades are available in the Santa Fe to help block heat and glare for the rear passengers. The Enclave doesn’t offer rear side window sunshades.

The Hyundai Santa Fe stands out above the Buick Enclave by offering not one, but two Qi-compatible phone chargers. This convenience helps travelers with multiple devices to keep powered up on-the-go. Wireless charging eliminates lost or cluttered charging cables and and two of them provide more flexibililty. Both vehicles also offer Qi charging for the second row passengers.

The Santa Fe Limited/Calligraphy’s Smart Parking Assist can parallel park or back into a parking spot by itself, starting, stopping and changing direction automatically. Remote Smart Parking Assist will park and retrieve your car remotely: press a button and watch it park itself. This is ideal for tight locations. The Enclave’s automatic parking system does not offer parking by remote control.

The Hyundai Santa Fe outsold the Buick Enclave by almost five to one during 2024.